For a company that misses no opportunity to boast about its “good business journey” credentials, Woolworths has demonstrated a remarkably cavalier attitude to the reputational damage caused by its “bad business” remuneration policy.
Surely the much more sustainable approach would have been to pay him encouragingly well in the initial stages but hold back on the extreme generosity until there was evidence of long-term success. However, buried in the text far from the single-figure chart, are details of generous share awards made to Moir in each of the last three years — worth R27m in 2017 and R28.5m in each of 2018 and 2019.
Whether he stays until then will largely be determined by his success in turning around David Jones. He has told journalists he is determined to sort out the problems and has convinced the board, for now, that he is the man for the job. The board may feel that at this stage of the game, and with few obvious options, Moir, who drove the Australian acquisition, is best placed to sort out the multibillion-rand disaster.